60 Minutes Airs Piece on Uninsured Middle Class Overcharged by Hospitals

March 3, 2006

  • March 3, 2006 at 7:05 am
    Mark2 says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    (the last post by Mark to Patty should have been Mark2, not the first Mark)

  • March 3, 2006 at 7:19 am
    Mark2 says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    \”When our good legislators stop trying to legislate what a free enterprize market can do then you will see some return to competition and price reductions.\”

    This one comment says it all. The hidden problem in the health \”care\” issue is the various statutory requirements placed on health insurers by state legislatures. From rating to required benefits, the insurance industry is the most widely regulated in the country.

    Excessive regulation destroys any possible benefit of competition.

  • March 3, 2006 at 7:22 am
    Mark2 says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    P.S.

    If you want a look into how the government would do with socialized health care, just look how \”well\” they did with the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

  • March 3, 2006 at 8:36 am
    ERNEST M. HOLMES says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    There once was a time in our history when the government had to intervent in the marketplace and no one outside of the vested interests complained. What the government did then was called \”Trust Busting\” I am in principal against Government Intervention, but we have come to another point in time where it is needed.

    We have arguably the best medical system in the world. Because of the issue of pricing, it has become, arguably, one of the most unfairly delivered systems in the world.

    The seeds of the problem were sewn when Medicare and Medicade began keeping tract of what was charged for which proceedures in which portions of the company. Our National government decided to pay, I believe, on something called the 60th percentile. Now that does not mean 60% of what the provider charges. What it means is they will pay no more than what 60% of the providers in that group charge for that proceedure. They assigned computer codes covering every possible proceedure. These were called \”CPT Codes\”. Then they tracked what was charged in that geographical zone for that CPT code. Now, you can buy a book as thick as the largest dictionary you have ever seen that will give the most current CPT codes for that region. Guess what, it is updated periodically based on what the providers actually \”charged\”.

    There arose a whole industry providing the latest revisions to the pricing basis. More importantly, there arose another industry dedicated to expanding that pricing basis. Today, most medical providers have a medical pricing subcontractor dedicated to capturing the maximimum for what was done to the patient and to escalating the cost basis.

    We have an economy where inflation is around 2 to 3 percent. Why has medical cost inflated 18 to 20 percent annually?

    Is it because of unbelivable costs associated with some minor breakthroughs? I think not.

    The reason is that the pricing of our medical service delivery system is finally reflective of a decade of intentional inflation. Now we are handling a seven tiered pricing system as follows:

    Tier one — No insurance, no PPO — pay full retail

    Tier Two — Insurance, If no PPO involved, pay level one premiums

    Tier Three — Have insurance associated with PPO, pay premium and a co , pay deductible and co- pay — Pay level Two premiums

    Tier Four — have some PPO probably marketed as medical insurance. Pay amount chaged by provider subject to review by PPO

    Tier Five — Have nothing, and try to pay the bill you are given

    Tier Six — Have nothing and declare Bankruptcy

    Tier Seven, — Have Nothing and get the welfare system to handle it.

    I submit the entire pricing system is unfair and requires a complet overhaul.

    I submit the entire payment system is unfair and requires a complete overhaul.

    Ernest M. Holmes

  • March 3, 2006 at 10:53 am
    IndAgent says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    Some people claim that they cannot get insurance because of their health history. Do not be fooled by that. The real truth is that these people at some point and time elected not to take Cobra coverage. Even is Cobra runs out after 18 months (36 months is some cases) then their is another continuation option called \”HIPAA.\” Also, by law, small group application cannot be declined by an insurance company due to health history. This applied to groups with a minimum of 2 employees (5 in some states). Finally, nearly every state has options for those who cannot get insurance because of health history. Folks, the bottom line is, nearly everyone can get insurance, but they don\’t because they know me and you will pay their health care bills. These people are snakes, they would take a vacation, go out to dinner, buy a nice car, but they will not buy their own health insurance. Yes, there are a very few select mentally ill people who cannot get coverage because they do not know how to, let alone pay for it and this does not include anyone on this board. For those of you in California who cannot get insurance, please click the link below and find out how good you have it!
    http://www.coverageforall.org/

  • March 3, 2006 at 1:14 am
    Phil Merlin says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    2 years ago my wife went in the hospital for 2 days.

    Since we had a high deductible health plan the hospital sent us the bill for $11,820.

    After our insurance company had it adjusted to what it would pay it went down to $980

  • March 3, 2006 at 1:26 am
    This needs to be done says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    As the first comment refers to, look at what the hospitals, doctors, labs, etc. send you a bill for and then look at what the insurance actually pays. If you are uninsured, you should not be required to make up for the difference which is basically what those entities are trying to make you do. IF they can make it on what the insurance companies are willing to pay, why are they charging/billing so much in the first place? To make their write offs look \”good\” which benefits hospitals in many ways? That is part of what is causing the crisis of people being uninsured with the other part being ambulance chasing/perfection requiring attorneys.

  • March 3, 2006 at 1:27 am
    Toni Gebauer says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    My brother (uninsured)suffered a broken clavicle and went to the hospital. X-rays and sling cost $1200. Seems kind of pricy to me.

  • March 3, 2006 at 1:35 am
    Vita says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    I know what you mean, Phil. I spent one night in the hospital last Labor Day.
    Fortunately (?) I have an HMO – my co-pay was $1,000. The hospital felt the need to send me a copy of a \”bill\” showing what the hospital fees were ($34,000) what the insurance company actually paid ($5,600)
    and that the balance of $28,400. was being \”written off\”. Are they trying to give me some sort of guilt complex because I\’m not paying my \”fair share\”? Should I succumb to private insurance at triple the rates and half the coverage? What is one to do? Can\’t wait to see the piece on \”60 Minutes\”.

  • March 3, 2006 at 1:40 am
    gigglesesp says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    How about when hospitals don\’t properly diagnose a patient because he\’s uninsured? It happened to my brother. He injured his foot went to the ER & was told by the attending dr. he had a sprained ankle, given care instructions, meds & released. After 3 mos. his ankle still wasn\’t healed; he went to a county hospital where an XRay tech took a look at his Xrays and told him he had a broken foot!!!



Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*